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He woke up with his head pounding. That’s fine, he was probably just hungover, though Hyde didn’t remember drinking last night. He dragged himself out of his chair, stumbling and almost immediately fell over from the vertigo. His arms flew out as he caught himself on the desk, whole body trembling and struggling to keep itself upright.
He managed to steady himself on the desk, having to hold himself up to stop his legs shaking. His skin burned, sweat dripping down the side of his face. He could feel it running down his back, soaking his shirt and making the fabric cling to his torso. He tried peeling it off, but letting go of the table just made him stumble, and the shirt didn’t stay very far away from him. It was suffocating, as if he was in a straight jacket of some sort.
He wasn’t sick though, The Spirit of London at Night doesn’t get sick. Especially not the kind that makes you weak and grovelly, curling up on yourself and wanting to be tucked up into bed and looked after… definitely not at all. He staggered back to his seat, hair sticking to his neck and weighing down his head. It almost made him fall over, if he weren’t such a big boy. That was strange, he never called himself anything that childish usually.
He slumped back onto the chair, stretching out to try and get some relief. His whole body ached and was wracked with shivers. Damn you Jekyll for not keeping any blankets in your office. He tried to curl up, but couldn’t find any comfortable position, drawing a long embarrassing whimper from him. What the actual fuck was that?
“You alright Eddie?”
“Fuck off Henry, I’m fine. And don’t call me that, I'm not some stupid thumb-sucking toddler.”
Ok, he hadn’t meant to actually snap at Jekyll, but Henry shouldn’t have taunted him to begin with. He surely knew how sick tired he was, they shared a frontal lobe for fuck’s sake. He pulled a pillow from the floor, hugging it into his chest. It was cool, a lot cooler than his burning skin. He tried pressing his face into it to cool it down, but it only served to make the pillow warm. He groaned and threw it across the room, which he came to regret when he no longer had a pillow.
He blinked, and suddenly the room was bathed in an orange glow. The twilight that usually invigorated him now just served to mock him with its call. He couldn’t lift his head, it stubbornly stuck onto the sofa despite his desperate attempts to raise it. Tears stubbornly welled in his eyes, escaping down the side of his face when he couldn’t lift his arms to wipe them away. His clothes were completely drenched in sweat, his whole body ached and he just wanted to curl up and disappear.
“Jekyll…”
He sounded all small and pathetic, voice high pitched and trembling like a child. He was far past the point of caring, just wanting someone to help him. It didn’t even occur to him that the good doctor couldn’t even come to his aid since they shared a body. All Jekyll could do was look on sadly, sitting next to him within the mindspace. He was on the floor, back to the sofa near Hyde’s head. The blonde whimpered, closing his eyes as if that would save him (it wouldn’t).
~~~~~~~~~~~~
Rachel was starting to get concerned. She hadn’t seen Jekyll around all day for any food. While that happened sometimes, those days often brought a hungry Hyde to the kitchen at around 6pm to eat for the both of them. It was now 9pm and no sight of either of them. She eventually put a tray together of nibbles and tea so they didn’t die of starvation and tottered up to Henry’s office. She was about to knock until she heard whimpering and whining from inside. That wasn’t good. As she was trying to figure out how to open the door with her arms full of tray, Lanyon walked by.
“Robert, a little help?”
He stopped, looking over the tray and smiling, before nodding lightly. At least someone was looking after his idiot boyfriends.
“Rachel, there you are. You looking after the idiot twins?”
His smile faded as he saw her face. It was stone cold, eyes wider than usual, tray shaking slightly.
“Something’s wrong.”
Lanyon’s face contorted, and as he leant into the door, he heard the same whimpering as Rachel did from inside. They met each other's eyes, a silent conversation between them, before Lanyon reached out, slowly opening the door.
The room was dark, curtains still drawn, defending from the light behind. The desk was a mess, papers everywhere and half covered in scribbles. The source of the whimpering came from the sofa in the corner, where a blonde mop was shaking. Rachel put the tray on the desk, approaching him.
“Ed? You alright?”
She didn’t quite know what to do in this situation. Hyde hadn’t been ill before, never been all pathetic and shaking, mewling while drenched in sweat. She crouched next to him, using her thumb to wipe the tears away and almost instantly recoiling from how hot he was. He hadn’t replied to her, but pushed his head into her hand.
Rachel looked back to Lanyon, who stood there looking stunned. He’d never seen anyone sick, usually running away when burdened with responsibility, but this was his Eddie. He slunk closer, looking to Rachel for some kind of guidance on what to do. Hyde was panting, shirt nearly transparent from how wet it was.
“Towel, water, rag, clean clothes. Now.”
Lanyon had never heard Rachel so harsh, a hard look sending him running around to look for what she had listed. He dug through his office, trying to find some fresh clothes. He eventually found an undershirt and some linen trousers, they would have to do. If anything, fewer clothes would at least keep him cooler. He went by the kitchen on his way back, bringing a bowl of water along with the clothes to a frantic Rachel. She snatched the water bowl, dipping a rag in it and pressing it to his face. Hyde shifted away from it, Rachel gently shushing him and holding it to his face.
It broke Lanyon’s heart slightly, watching him lie there, so ill and helpless. This wasn’t Edward. This wasn’t his wild boyfriend; who ran through the society giggling after Jekyll’s experiments, who jumped between rooftops, who once fell out of the window while trying to kiss him.
He slowly approached the sofa, running a hand through Hyde’s hair. It was wet, making him want to pull his hand away, but the way he leant into the hand made it impossible. He got an idea.
Hyde whimpered as he stood up, trying to crane his neck to reach the retreating hand. He couldn’t raise his arms, they were so heavy.
“It’s alright darling, I’m just grabbing something”
He felt himself being moved, sat up and draped along the back of the sofa. He vaguely registered someone changing his clothes, but couldn’t bring himself to be coherent enough to care. All he knew was that he was glad to not be in those swe-
Oh.
Ohhh
There were hands in his hair.
Holy fuck, that felt nice.
He felt his hair being lifted, the strands being separated from his soaked neck. It was pulled back off his face and gathered in some kind of elastic band on top of his head. His head felt like it could actually breathe now, feeling the material of the sofa against his skin.
He heard voices coo-ing above him, but was in no state to make them out, only able to sleepily hum at them. The hands were still in his hair, but now petting rather than pulling and tying. The cooler clothes were now settled on his skin and the rag was taken off of him, only to be brought back even cooler. There was a cup pressed to his lips, and as he parted him, fresh clean water graced his barren mouth. It was only then that he realised just how thirsty he was. His arms finally were able to move, weakly grabbing the cup and drinking the whole thing. (Rachel still had to hold onto it, Hyde wasn’t strong enough to lift it on his own)
“Are you ok for us to move you Ed? Just to the bedroom connected to the office. Yours and Jekyll’s bed?”
He hummed. “Mm… ekul…”
Lanyon took that as a ‘yes’, lifting Hyde into his arms. Hyde weighed a lot less than Jekyll did, not that Jekyll was heavy to begin with, probably since he was almost a foot shorter than Jekyll was. He wriggled slightly in his arms, before resting his burning forehead on Lanyon’s shoulder. Despite his blurred vision, he managed to make out the shape of Rachel following them.
Lanyon put Hyde down on the bed, but he was clumsily stopped when he tried to pull away after.
“Nnoooo”
He tried again to stand up, unlinking Hyde’s hands from around his neck. He was strong enough to pull the blonde twink off of him, especially in his weakened state, but separating just set him off.
It was strange to see Hyde cry, something Rachel hadn’t seen from him before. She glared at Lanyon, sending a pointed ‘Fix it’ at him. He kicked his shoes off, then joined Hyde on the bed, pulling his head into his lap.
The door to the room opened, before a new dip joined the bed. Though he couldn’t see him, Hyde could always tell when Zosi was near. He curled up the other side of him, nosing into his side to share his body heat. He was cool against his side (as church grimms tended to be), doing a better job of cooling him down than the rags that Rachel was running him.
He blinked, suddenly in a deep void. He wasn’t lying down anymore, just floating. Or was he falling?
Nope, definitely falling.
Not ideal, but he could get himself out of there. He looked around for anything to grab. A building, a streetlamp, hell, even a person, but there was nothing. He couldn’t even see the horizon, just infinite blackness.
How could there be nothing, but he still felt so tight?
His chest was tight, Edward having to actively fight for each breath. God, it hurt to do that. He clawed at his cravat and top button, but it was futile. The garment kept doing itself back up every time it was undone.
He felt himself being compressed by some invisible box. It was tight, and hot, and it hurt, and he was sweating. He tried to shout for help, but all that came out was a pathetic whistle. Again, and again, and again, no noises were made.
He couldn’t move his arms. Why couldn’t he move his arms? He couldn’t scream. He couldn't move. The more he struggled, the tighter he was compressed.
~~~~~~
He opened his eyes, squished up between Zosimous and Lanyon, immediately scrambling off the bed and falling into an undignified heap on the floor. He spread out, lying like a starfish, as far as his hands and feet could stretch out. His face was slightly wet as he lay there, panting to regain his breath. He choked out a sob, before getting hit with a wave of relief that he could make sound again. More like a wall than a wave. A brick wall. A hard one.
He registered the door opening, but was too caught in his relief to properly acknowledge until someone was crouched by his head.
“Edward?”
Rachel’s voice felt nice. Tasted like honey and some warm drink that he was too delirious to properly articulate.
“Why are you on the floor darling?”
He felt his head being lifted, placed onto her lap.
“N’gthmare”
“Oh you poor darling”
It was nice to watch Hyde preen under the attention, cooing in her lap and closing his eyes to her gently stroking his hair. Most of it had fallen out of the hair bobble, so she tied it back up for him. He was a lot less warm now, which was a massive relief.
“Gonna get you back in bed, that sound nice?”
He hummed, not complaining when she scooped him up. She held him in her arms for a bit. He nuzzled his face into her shoulder, almost like Eli used to when she had to ferry him to bed drunk.
Don’t think of Eli.
She tucked him back into his place, Zosimous scooting to his stomach and Lanyon still behind him. He felt a small kiss pressed into his temple before Rachel walking away, the sound smelling like some kind of wood, though he couldn’t think of what kind. It didn’t matter, as he was pulled back to sleep. For the first time in a long time, he felt good. He felt safe, and loved, despite the illness still trying to destroy him from the inside.
His own little bubble.
With everyone he loved.
He vaguely registered Henry chattering in their head before he dropped off, the words warm and spreading through his body, making him feel all nice and heavy.